A new statue appeared in central London a few days ago. A man in a suit walks forward confidently, but his face is covered by a flag and his step is taking him straight off the pedestal. A few hours later, Banksy confirmed he was the author. As is typical of his work, this is not merely art, but a message wrapped in a form that hardly needs any explanation.
At first glance, the statue seems simple, yet it works according to the very same principles as modern digital content. The message is immediate, visual, and emotional. The viewer does not need to read an article or listen to a long explanation — one glance is enough to understand what is being portrayed. The flag covering the face and the moment of falling together create an interpretation widely seen as a comment on blind patriotism.
What matters is not only what is depicted, but also where it is placed. Waterloo Place is not just an ordinary city street, but a historical space associated with power and military legacy. Placed in such an environment, the statue itself becomes an intervention into an existing narrative.
The same logic works in the digital sphere. Except there, people do not build sculptures — they construct images and narratives.
How does a joke become a message?
One recent example shows how quickly this logic takes hold. An image shared by the American president featuring UNO cards was meant to symbolise dominance. The message was simple: “We have all the cards.”
Within hours, the same image had been turned around. In response, another version appeared, using the exact same game logic to create the opposite message. In UNO, having more cards does not mean a stronger position, but being closer to losing. “Yes, we have fewer cards,” came the reply.
It was not just a joke. It was an example of how an existing visual can be hijacked and given a new meaning. The very same mechanism on which more complex messages are later built.
When form becomes a production line
From there, the same logic becomes systematic. In recent months, Lego-style AI videos have started spreading online. They look like games or animations, yet carry very clear political messages.
These videos portray conflicts in a simplified and emotional form. The characters are caricatures, events are black and white, and the narrative is straightforward. The content often includes unverified or false claims, but that does not stop it from spreading. On the contrary, it helps create a strong and easily understandable story.
What matters is not only what is being said, but how it is being said. Within the same aesthetic, there can be both short clips and music videos where the message is carried through rap and visual storytelling. The format changes, but the logic remains the same.
The most important shift is the speed. Where political messaging once took days or weeks to shape, it is now produced within hours. The same visual language allows creators to react instantly and tie messages to fresh events.
Such content often appears almost in real time and can reach audiences before official information has even been confirmed. This means the narrative no longer follows the event, but starts shaping it in advance. At the same time, the need for traditional media begins to disappear, because the content moves directly to the viewer, bypassing the filters that once helped provide context and verify claims.
According to experts, this is a flexible and aggressive form of influence that is not going away.
The same mechanism, different environment
When you place the Banksy statue, the UNO meme, and Lego-style videos side by side, the differences are no longer as large as they first appear. In one case, it is an artist’s intervention. In another, a spontaneous reaction. In the third, organised content production. But all of them rely on the same mechanism.
The message has to be instantly understandable. It has to work without context. And most importantly, it has to spread on its own.
That is why this kind of content works. It does not demand deeper engagement, but offers a ready-made meaning. It does not force people to think, but creates the feeling that the thinking has already been done for them.
Where art ends and influence begins
It has been said about Banksy’s works that each piece is a campaign of its own. Today, that idea applies more broadly than ever before. Campaigns no longer have to arrive through press releases or official channels. They can appear as a statue on a street corner or as a video on social media.
That does not mean all such content is propaganda. But it does mean that propaganda now uses the same tools.
And that makes one thing far more difficult than before. Propaganda no longer needs to hide itself. It is enough for it to look like something else.
